Once cheddar was 'Cheddar', a large, hard-pressed barrel of cheese made by a particular…

Method

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5/fan 170C and get out an ovenproof dish (measuring 20 by 30cm, and about 5cm deep). Meanwhile, put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta. When it is boiling rapidly, tip in the pasta with a generous sprinkling of salt. Give it a stir, return to the boil and cook for 6 minutes. Add the broccoli, then return the water to the boil and cook for 4 minutes more, until the broccoli is on the firm side of just tender. Drain well.

While the pasta is cooking, put the butter, flour and milk in a large pan and heat, whisking or stirring continuously, until it thickens to make a smooth sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in the mascarpone, sun-dried tomatoes, capers (if using), anchovies (if using) and basil, then add the pasta and broccoli and season well.

Halve the salmon fillets widthways (you will see that there is an obvious divide on each fillet) then place the pieces in a single layer on the base of the ovenproof dish. Spoon the broccoli mixture on top, then scatter with the grated cheddar. (You can chill this for up to 4 hours if you want to get ahead.)

Bake for 30 minutes until the mixture is just starting to bubble round the edges and the mixture is pale golden – don’t let it go too dark or the fish will overcook.

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Comments, questions and tips

Comments (181)

Carla201418th Jan, 2014

Made this but missed out the tomatoes, capers, basil and anchovy as I thought they may offend my 4 year old. We both loved it, and it always makes me extra happy when my son eats salmon. Good mum award for me :)

Made this last night and still a bit bland even though as I ground some new peppercorns in, the top of the jar fell off and all the peppercorns fell in! Managed to fish most of them out. i didn't add anchovies. It was the first time I'd used sun-ripened toms and I didn't really think the flavor suited the dish. Next time I will use ideas from other comments to lower calorie content and probably add cherry tomatoes.

Only used 200g pasta which was enough for 4 adult portions (had it for dinner today too!). I used light soft cheese rather than mascarpone and used green pesto in the sauce. Found sauce didn't thicken and I was stirring it for ages (maybe cos I used skimmed milk?) bit of cornflour solved the problem though!

I also put onions and garlic in as other people have mentioned. Served it with garlic bread. Mmm lovely alternative way to cook salmon!

This was great, far better than the quick meal I thought it would be. The anchovies really made it. I left out the capers but followed the recipe to the letter for the rest of it. We will definitely be making this again.

Excellent meal. My missus isn't huge on pasta yet she just said "I could eat this every night this week". It was filling, warming, with several nice flavours running through. Will definitely be making this again, and I probably wont even change anything.

Made this last night, would definitely recommend adding the capers and anchovies. Those that said it was bland must have left them out. Using a good mature cheddar and sundried tomatoes this dish was GORGEOUS! So much fresh flavour, and I didn't even have to add my usual staples onion, garlic and mustard.

I typed in salmon in the good food recipe search and found this one and it had great ratings! I had salmon to use up and everything else I had to use up, I sustituted the following for those reasons.brocolli with spinach,500 instead of 600ml milk as thought it was quite runny, I also added a tsp of mustard as previoiusly advised100g cream cheese instead of mascarponedidnt have any anchovies or basil so just used dried basilI also added extra cheese for topping

I read a few comments about lack of flavour, just to ensure there was plenty of flavour I added the following,gently fried a mixture of 1 chopped red chilli, 1 yellow pepper, 1 red onion,3 shallots and 2 cloves of garlic

Delicious recipe perefect for dinner parties/having friends round as you can prepare it in advanceCant wait to have the rest for lunch tomorrow and will def make again, fantastic!

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